A series that began with concerns about a foot injury to their staff ace ended with new worries about a sputtering Dodgers offense.

The Dodgers hit one of the lowest points of their enchanted season on Thursday, when the Oakland A’s completed a three-game sweep of their series with a 4-1 win in front of 23,337 at O.co Coliseum.

The Dodgers were held to three hits on Thursday, and managed just two runs on eight hits in the series.

Fittingly, a dreadful series ended with a shot to the midsection on Yoenis Cespedes’ game-ending three-run homer.

Thursday’s game soured a day the Dodgers should have taken some comfort in a stellar outing from reigning Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who effectively silenced questions about the impact of a foot injury.

Kershaw, who developed plantar fasciitis on his left foot, allowed one run in eight innings of three-hit ball. He struck out seven and allowed two walks.

He was 1-1 with a 5.26 ERA in his four previous starts.

“I didn’t feel that I had great stuff today but I was able to keep the ball down,” Kershaw said. “I didn’t miss up too much today which was good, I got a lot of ground ball outs, some quick outs.”

Kershaw insists that the foot injury does not affect his pitching.

“I feel fine,” he said. “It’s a battle to run, but the pitching’s good. Hopefully I won’t have to answer that anymore.”

The Dodgers’ offensive woes made the absence of star center fielder Matt Kemp – on the disabled list for a second time with a hamstring injury – more conspicuous.

The good news from a Dodgers standpoint is that Kemp has resumed full baseball activities and is on track to return for the second half, if not sooner.

But the bad news is the reality that for the time being, there does not appear to be a quick fix.

“We’re going to have the same guys out there tomorrow night,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “We just have to do better.”

They can hardly do any worse.

With the A’s pitchers aggressively pounding the strike zone throughout the series, the Dodgers bats failed to rise to the occasion.

Journeyman Travis Blackley (2-1), out of a job as recently as last month when he was released by the San Francisco Giants, allowed one run in eight innings of three-hit ball. He struck out six and allowed no walks.

“(Blackley) pounded the strike zone,” Kershaw said. “It felt like every at-bat was an 0-1 0-2 (count) for us and that’s a tough way to hit.

“You’ve got to give them credit. Obviously we’re scuffling a little bit offensively, but you’ve got to give those guys some credit. They pitched us really well this series.”

The series followed a dubious trend. Since winning the 1988 World Series, the Dodgers haven’t had much success playing at Oakland, where they’ve lost six straight going back to 2006 and are 2-12 since their first interleague meeting at the Coliseum in 1997.

With a runner at second and no outs in the ninth Thursday, Dodgers reliever Josh Lindblom (1-2) fielded a Jemile Weeks bunt and bluffed a throw to third before turning back to first, by which time he had no play on the speedy Weeks.

It may have been a moot point with Cespedes following the Weeks bunt with a shot down the left-field line that went for a game-ending three-run homer.